The FACEIT Major: London 2018 New Champions Stage Preview
The FACEIT Major: London 2018 is about to enter its 3rd and final stage: the New Champions Stage. Only 8 of the initial 24 teams are left in the tournament and they will be competing for a total prize pool of almost 1 million dollars.
As the name implies, the New Champions Stage of the FACEIT Major: London 2018 is scheduled to take place in London, England between September 20 – 23. Of course, it goes without saying that the CS:GO betting opportunities offered by this event are exceptional, particularly because we have several underdogs that have made it this far and are now competing against the world’s best.
Participants and event format
The New Champions Stage of the FACEIT Major: London 2018 brings together 8
teams:
- compLexity Gaming
- MIBR
- BIG
- Natus Vincere
- Team Liquid
- HellRaisers
- Astralis
- FaZe Clan
This stage of the event will be played in a single-elimination bracket format made up of 4 Quarterfinals, 2 Semifinals and 1 Grand Final. Except for the final match, every other series is a Bo3.
Given the bracket configuration, the most likely candidates for the Grand Final are Natus Vincere and Team Liquid, although Liquid will have to beat Astralis to get there.
Prize pool distribution
The New Champions Stage of the FACEIT Major: London 2018 offers a prize pool of $860.000. The amount will be distributed among participants in the following way:
- 1st place: $500K
- 2nd place: $150K
- 3rd – 4th place: $70K
- 5th – 8th place: $35K
Betting predictions
These are the 4 matches that will be played in the Quarterfinals of the FACEIT Major: London 2018 New Champions Stage.
BIG vs. Natus Vincere
BIG has had a big tournament so far and has come a long way as a result. The 4 Germans and their English teammate (smooya) proved their critics wrong and are now looking for a miracle in this match, because it’s going to be very very difficult. Electronic and s1mple are playing out of their minds right now. The Ukrainian duo will be very hard to stop unless one of the two Na’Vi monsters has a bad day. BIG will have to go big or go home because its opponent in this match is at least one tier above its current level, even with smooya playing the best CS of his career.
Natus Vincere came into the FACEIT Major: London 2018 after a poor performance at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, where it finished 5th – 8th after a surprising defeat against North, who would go on to win the whole event. But apart from that, Na’Vi has been owning for the past 4 months: 3 tournament titles and 2 other 3rd – 4th place results.
During the New Legends Stage of the FACEIT Major: London 2018, Na’Vi lost to Astralis but then went on to beat FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Fnatic, clearly proving that it’s still a top 3 team in CS:GO right now.
Betting prediction: Natus Vincere to win.
CompLexity Gaming vs. MIBR
CompLexity Gaming is one of the tournament’s dark horses. The team came out of nowhere and made it all the way to the New Champions Stage in arguably the most stacked CS:GO event of the year. Prior to the FACEIT Major: London 2018, compLexity had not had a single relevan result except for the one that brought it here in the first place: a championship title at the Americas Minor Championship – London 2018.
During the first two stages of the FACEIT Major: London 2018, compLexity showed a lot of skill, going 3 W – 1 L in the New Challengers Stage and then 3 W – 0 L in the New Legends Stage. Overall, it defeated Space Soldiers, BIG (twice), Vega Squadron, Fnatic and G2 Esports. Its only loss came against Astralis, the strongest team in the world.
On the other side, MIBR came into this tournament after a promising 1st place finish at ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018. The latest player transfers (Stewie2K and tarik from Cloud9) plus the addition of YNk to the team as a coach have finally started to produce some positive results for this former CS:GO giant.
During the New Legends Stage of the FACEIT Major: London 2018, MIBR had a rough time, losing to TyLoo and Astralis but managing to qualify by defeating mousesports, G2 Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 2.55 – 1.45 in favor of MIBR, assessing that experience plus sheer individual skill will most likely prevail over the hunger to succeed for the first time ever at a Major event.
But in the last 4 days, I’m quite sure that YNk and MIBR have done their homework and are now perfectly aware of what they need to do to win this match.
Betting prediction: MIBR to win.
Team Liquid vs. HellRaisers
Team Liquid has had a very good performance over the last 4 months, playing in no less than 3 Grand Finals of big events. All of them were lost against the same team, Astralis. But now, at the FACEIT Major: London 2018, Team Liquid managed to beat even this unbeatable opponent during the New Legends Stage, proving that it’s likely a top 3 team at the moment.
On the other side, we have a much weaker competitor with almost no results to speak of at tier 1 CS:GO tournaments. HellRaisers came to this event without too many hopes for a top 8 finish but has somehow pulled through, in part because of the lucky draws.
During the first two stages of the tournament, HellRaisers won 6 times and lost 3. Among these 3 losses was the one against Team Liquid from the New Challengers Stage. And it wasn’t even close. A clear 16 – 9 in Liquid’s favor pretty much showed the significant skill difference between these two teams.
I’m actually expecting Liquid to go all the way and win the tournament, so I fully expect it to finish this match in 2 quick maps.
Betting prediction: Team Liquid to win.
Astralis vs. FaZe Clan
Astralis is the strongest team in CS:GO and has been for many months. Almost nobody can stand in its way, so I don’t see how this version of FaZe Clan could possibly produce an upset here. Astralis went 6 W – 2 L during the first two stages of the FACEIT Major: London 2018, losing to NiP and Team Liquid. Keep in mind however that those matches were Bo1 and both of them were incredibly close, going into overtime.
On the other side, FaZe Clan struggled to make it this far and only barely managed to do that. The team went 0 – 2 in the New Legends Stage before winning 3 matches in a row. Its defeats against BIG and Natus Vincere clearly emphasized a lot of weaknesses in its play style and I fully expect Astralis to exploit them to perfection in this match.
Betting prediction: Astralis to win.
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